Mater and the Ghostlight (2006)

Too much of everything

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent but underrated film

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

I might have seen this short when renting 'Cars' a few years ago but had forgotten about it. Upon renting the first volume of Pixar shorts on DVD, I watched it to refresh my memory but I didn't find it as engaging as 'Jack Jack Attack,' 'Burn-E' and 'Dug's Special Mission.'Two of the strongest aspects are the song 'Behind the Clouds' that opens and closes the short and the lovely fluorescent-coloured lighting that sufficiently illuminated the dark sky for the most part but some shots are too dark and not detailed enough, especially those when Mater is left alone and is scared of what he thinks is the ghost light. There a a few clichéd moments such as the record scratch when the police car mentions the ghost light, the false alarm situation of Mater thinking the cute lightning bug was the ghost light and a slow-motion scream. The dialogue was a tad simplistic and at one point repetitive, but I liked the upbeat-to-slow country music playing after the generic-sounding scary music. There were also some laugh-out-loud moments such as Mater playing tricks on the other cars and trying to scare them, especially Lightning McQueen hoping Mater wouldn't scare him, the brief appearance of the cow tractors (they made me laugh in the main feature) and Mater not noticing the Screaming Banshee after the opening credits. Overall this is one of the weaker feature-related Pixar shorts but its music is mostly worth a listen and the lighting is on the whole beautiful. 7/10.

I have seen this short twice and both times I was bowled over by the gorgeous computer-generated animation. Clearly, Pixar is THE studio that sets the animation standard. However, I think this film has a strike against it from the outset and that is because the CARS characters aren't as endearing or timeless as many of the other Pixar creations. They lack the "cuddly factor" or depth of some of the other characters and so, at least to me, it doesn't stack well with the MONSTERS, INC., UP!, RATATOUILLE or INCREDIBLES (among others).As for the short, it's about Mater and how cowardly he is. The others make up a ghost story and Mater freaks out. It's all great fun for the kids, but adults probably won't love this film unless they are car aficionados or NASCAR fans. To me, it all seemed pretty routine--aside from the great animation.

Following on from the action in Cars, the town is all being subject to practical jokes from Mater the tow truck. When Lightening learns of the legend of the ghostlight and the fear in puts into everyone (not least Mater), he decides to get a little payback on his friend.Every Pixar DVD contains an extra short film and, in addition to the one often screened before the film proper, it is a nice touch that I genuinely do appreciate – I would like more films to include a short as part of some of their screenings just as a way of improving experience (rather than, say, 30 minutes of trying to sell me things). Generally the quality is high which will come as no surprise to anyone who understands how high the Pixar bar is set. However nobody can hit every time and for me Cars was OK but certainly nothing all that special in terms of the material. This short continues that trend and also focuses on one of the weaker characters in Mater.The material is straightforward and pretty much comes down to a series of comic over-reactions from Mater to a light. And that's about it. For younger viewers it has enough energy and timing to provide plenty of amusement but those looking for the edge of adult wit and comedy beloved of Pixar will find themselves wanting. Overall then what we have is a colourful and amusing DVD extra that will be good enough for children but sadly offer nothing to the wider audience that I'm used to Pixar expertly catering for.

Takes place straight after the movie. In one calm night, Mater was roaming around Radiator Springs and pulling off some scares and pranks on all his friends. After doing it on everyone, he and the rest of them listen to the tale of the Ghost Light which is a ghostly orb that comes out on dark and deserted nights like this one.After hearing the story, Mater is too scared to go back to his tow truck garage. As he fears that the Ghost Light will get him for sure. And without farther a do he encounters one and drives like crazy. But it there really such thing as a Ghost Light? Every Pixar movie gets it's own exclusive short, and this one is another fine addition to the collection next to "Mike's New Car" & "Jack-Jack Attacks".Highly recommended to the Mater fans. And exclusively on the "Cars" DVD.